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Mineral rights and solar leases in Texas

Updated · About 6 minutes

General information, not a substitute for the advice of an attorney.

In much of Texas, the person who owns the surface does not own the minerals underneath. That split shapes every solar deal, because Texas law gives the mineral side powerful rights to use the surface.

The mineral estate is dominant

When minerals are owned separately from the surface, Texas treats the mineral estate as dominant. The mineral owner can use as much of the surface as reasonably necessary to produce oil and gas, which can include drill pads, roads, and pipelines (Texas A&M AgriLife). That is why solar developers study the mineral title closely, including how many owners share it and whether it is already leased.

The limit: the accommodation doctrine

The mineral estate's power is not unlimited. In Getty Oil Co. v. Jones (1971), the Texas Supreme Court held that a mineral lessee must use the surface with "due regard" for the surface owner. Where tall pump jacks would block a farmer's existing irrigation system and the industry commonly used alternatives (shorter pumps or pumps set in below-ground cellars), the lessee could be required to use them even though they cost more (Getty Oil Co. v. Jones; Texas Real Estate Research Center). The rule is often called the accommodation doctrine (Texas Real Estate Research Center).

Under the doctrine, the burden is on the surface owner, who must show that the mineral use completely precludes or substantially impairs an existing surface use, that the surface owner has no reasonable alternative way to continue that use, and that the mineral side has reasonable, customary, industry-accepted alternatives that would let both uses continue (Merriman v. XTO Energy, Tex. 2013; Texas A&M AgriLife). It limits how the minerals are developed; it does not let a surface owner stop mineral development.

Solar has already been tested in court

In Lyle v. Midway Solar (Texas Court of Appeals, El Paso, 2020), a surface owner signed a solar lease that could run up to 55 years with renewals, the solar company covered 215 acres of a 315-acre Pecos County tract with panels and lines, and owners of an undeveloped mineral interest sued (Lyle v. Midway Solar opinion). The court held that the accommodation doctrine could govern the dispute, absent an agreement to the contrary, but that applying it was premature: until the mineral owners seek to develop their minerals, the solar company owes them no duty regarding its surface use (Lyle v. Midway Solar opinion; Texas A&M AgriLife). The doctrine is fact-specific: AgriLife notes the result could differ if mineral owners later tried to develop and could show the project blocked them (Texas A&M AgriLife).

How developers handle it

Because court outcomes are uncertain, many solar developers get surface-use waivers or agreements from mineral owners before building, often limiting drilling to designated drill-site areas (Texas A&M AgriLife; Lyle v. Midway Solar opinion). As a landowner, ask whether the developer plans to get these agreements and who pays for them.

A note on groundwater

Sources differ on how to describe groundwater. Texas A&M describes the groundwater estate as dominant alongside minerals (Texas A&M AgriLife), while the Texas Real Estate Research Center notes that severing groundwater from the surface does not create a dominant estate, and that the Texas Supreme Court has applied the accommodation doctrine to groundwater (Texas Real Estate Research Center). If groundwater rights on your land are owned separately, ask an attorney how they affect a solar project.

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Questions to ask before signing

  • Do I own the minerals? If not, who does, and are they leased?
  • Will the developer get surface-use or accommodation agreements from the mineral owners, and who pays?
  • Are there existing wells, pipelines, or drill-site reservations on the land?
  • What happens to my lease payments if mineral development takes part of the project area?
  • Does anyone own the groundwater separately?

General information from the sources linked above, not legal advice. Have a Texas attorney review mineral and surface issues before signing.

Next: Texas decommissioning law for solar and battery projects →

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